General input/output architecture, protocol and related methods to implement flow control

ABSTRACT

An enhanced general input/output communication architecture, protocol and related methods are presented. In one embodiment, a method for an enhanced general input/output communication architecture includes initializing a flow control mechanism within an general input/output (GIO) interface associated with a virtual channel upon initialization of the virtual channel, and tracking receive buffer availability in a remote GIO interface coupled with the GIO interface by the virtual channel by monitoring an indication associated with an amount of content transmitted from the GIO interface to the remote GIO interface.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 10/227,601 entitled General Input/Output Architecture, Protocoland Related Methods to Implement Flow Control filed on Aug. 23, 2002 byAjanovic et al., now U.S. Pat. No. 7,536,473 issued May 19, 2009, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/314,708 entitledA High-speed, Point-to-Point Interconnection and CommunicationArchitecture, Protocol and Related Methods filed on Aug. 24, 2001 byAjanovic et al, and commonly assigned to the Assignee of thisapplication.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to the field of generalinput/output (GIO) bus architectures and, more particularly, to anarchitecture, protocol and related methods to implement flow controlbetween elements within a GIO bus architecture.

BACKGROUND

Computing appliances, e.g., computer systems, servers, networkingswitches and routers, wireless communication devices, and otherelectronic devices are typically comprised of a number of electroniccomponents, or elements. Such elements often include a processor,microcontroller or other control logic, a memory system, input andoutput interface(s), peripheral elements and the like. To facilitatecommunication between such elements, computing appliances have longrelied on a general purpose input/output (GIO) bus architecture toenable these disparate elements of the computing appliance tocommunicate with one another in support of the myriad of applicationsoffered by such appliances.

Perhaps one of the most pervasive of such conventional GIO busarchitectures is the peripheral component interconnect bus, or PCI, busarchitecture. The PCI bus standard (Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI) Local Bus Specification, Rev. 2.2, released Dec. 18, 1998) definesa multi-drop, parallel bus architecture for interconnecting chips,expansion boards, and processor/memory subsystems in an arbitratedfashion within a computing appliance. The content of the PCI local busstandard is expressly incorporated herein by reference, for allpurposes.

While conventional PCI bus implementations have a 133 MBps throughput(i.e., 32 bytes at 33 MHz), the PCI 2.2 standard allows for 64 bytes perpin of the parallel connection clocked at up to 133 MHz resulting in atheoretical throughput of just over 1 GBps. In this regard, thethroughput provided by such conventional multi-drop PCI busarchitectures has, until recently, provided adequate bandwidth toaccommodate the internal communication needs of even the most advancedof computing appliances (e.g., multiprocessor server applications,network appliances, etc.). However, with recent advances in processingpower taking processing speeds above the 1 Ghz threshold, coupled withthe widespread deployment of broadband Internet access, conventional GIOarchitectures such as the PCI bus architecture have become a bottleneckwithin such computing appliances.

Another limitation commonly associated with conventional GIOarchitectures is that they are typically not well-suited tohandle/process isochronous (or, time dependent) data streams. An exampleof just such an isochronous data stream is multimedia data streams,which require an isochronous transport mechanism to ensure that the datais consumed as fast as it is received, and that the audio portion issynchronized with the video portion.

Conventional GIO architectures process data asynchronously, or in randomintervals as bandwidth permits. Such asynchronous processing ofisochronous data can result in misaligned audio and video and, as aresult, certain providers of isochronous multimedia content have rulesthat prioritize certain data over other data, e.g., prioritizing audiodata over video data so that at least the end-user receives a relativelysteady stream of audio (i.e., not broken-up) so that they may enjoy thesong, understand the story, etc. that is being streamed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic appliance incorporating oneor more aspects of an embodiment of the invention to facilitatecommunication between one or more constituent elements of the appliance;

FIG. 2 is a graphical illustration of an example communication stackemployed by one or more elements of the electronic appliance tofacilitate communication between such elements, according to one exampleembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a graphical illustration of an example transaction layerdatagram, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a graphical illustration of an example communication linkcomprising one or more virtual channels to facilitate communicationbetween one or more elements of the electronic device, according to oneaspect of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an example method to provide isochronouscommunication resources within the EGIO architecture, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an example method for implementing flowcontrol within the EGIO architecture, according to one aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example method for implementing dataintegrity features within the EGIO architecture, according to one aspectof the invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example communication agent toselectively implement one or more aspects of the invention, according toone example embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of various packet header formats used withinthe transaction layer of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example memory architecture employed tofacilitate one or more aspects of the present invention, according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a state diagram of an example links state machine diagram,according to one aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an accessible medium comprising contentwhich, when accessed by an electronic device, implements one or moreaspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a general purposeinput/output (GIO) architecture, protocol and related methods toimplement flow control therein. In this regard, an innovative enhancedgeneral input/output (EGIO) interconnection architecture, associatedcommunication protocol and related methods are introduced. According toone example embodiment, the elements of an EGIO architecture include oneor more of a root complex (e.g., implemented within a bridge), a switch,and end-points, each incorporating at least a subset of EGIO features tosupport EGIO communication between such elements.

Communication between the EGIO facilities of such elements is performedusing serial communication channel(s) using an EGIO communicationprotocol which, as will be developed more fully below, supports one ormore innovative features including, but not limited to, virtualcommunication channels, tailer-based error forwarding, support forlegacy PCI-based devices and their interrupts, multiple request responsetype(s), flow control and/or data integrity management facilities.According to one aspect of the invention, the communication protocol issupported within each of the elements of the computing appliance withintroduction of an EGIO communication protocol stack, the stackcomprising a physical layer, a data link layer and a transaction layer.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughoutthis specification are not necessarily all referring to the sameembodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In light of the foregoing, and the description to follow, those skilledin the art will appreciate that one or more elements of the presentinvention may well be embodied in hardware, software, a propagatedsignal, or a combination thereof.

Terminology

Before delving into the particulars of the innovative EGIOinterconnection architecture, communication protocol and relatedmethods, it may be useful to introduce the elements of the vocabularythat will be used throughout this detailed description:

-   -   Advertise: Used in the context of EGIO flow control to refer to        the act of a receiver sending information regarding its flow        control credit availability by using a flow control update        message of the EGIO protocol;    -   Completer: A logical device addressed by a request;    -   Completer ID: A combination of one or more of a completer's bus        identifier (e.g., number), device identifier, and a function        identifier which uniquely identifies the completer of the        request;    -   Completion: A packet used to terminate, or to partially        terminate a sequence is referred to as a completion. According        to one example implementation, a completion corresponds to a        preceding request, and in some cases includes data;    -   Configuration space: One of the four address spaces within the        EGIO architecture. Packets with a configuration space address        are used to configure a device;    -   Component: A physical device (i.e., within a single package);    -   Data Link Layer: The intermediate layer of the EGIO architecture        that lies between the transaction layer (above) and the physical        layer (below);    -   DLLP: Data link layer packet is a packet generated and consumed        at the data link layer to support link management functions        performed at the Data Link Layer;    -   Downstream: refers to either the relative position of an        element, or the flow of information away from the host bridge;    -   End-point: an EGIO device with a type 00h configuration space        header;    -   Flow Control: A method for communicating receive buffer        information from a receiver to a transmitter to prevent receive        buffer overflow and to allow transmitter compliance with        ordering rules;    -   Flow Control Packet (FCP): A transaction layer packet (TLP) used        to send flow control information from the transaction layer in        one component to a transaction layer in another component;    -   Function: One independent section of a multi-function device        identified in configuration space by a unique function        identifier (e.g., a function number);    -   Hierarchy: Defines the I/O interconnect topology implemented in        the EGIO architecture. A hierarchy is characterized by a Root        Complex corresponding to the link closest to the enumerating        device (e.g., the host CPU);    -   Hierarchy domain: An EGIO hierarchy is segmented into multiple        fragments by a root complex that source more than one EGIO        interface, wherein such fragments are referred to as a hierarchy        domain;    -   Host Bridge: Connects a host CPU complex to a Root Complex; Host        bridge may provide Root Complex;    -   IO Space: One of the four address spaces of the EGIO        architecture;    -   Lane: A set of differential signal pairs of the physical link,        one pair for transmission and one pair for reception. A by-N        link is comprised of N lanes;    -   Link: A dual-simplex communication path between two components;        the collection of two ports (one transmit and one receive) and        their interconnecting lane(s);    -   Logical Bus: The logical connection among a collection of        devices that have the same bus number in configuration space;    -   Logical Device: An element of an EGIO architecture that responds        to a unique device identifier in configuration space;    -   Memory Space: One of the four address spaces of the EGIO        architecture;    -   Message: A packet with a message space type;    -   Message Space: One of the four address spaces of the EGIO        architecture. Special cycles as defined in PCI are included as a        subset of Message Space and, accordingly, provides an interface        with legacy device(s);    -   Legacy Software Model(s): The software model(s) necessary to        initialize, discover, configure and use a legacy device (e.g.,        inclusion of the PCI software model in, for example, an        EGIO-to-Legacy Bridge facilitates interaction with legacy        devices);    -   Physical Layer: The layer of the EGIO architecture that directly        interfaces with the communication medium between the two        components;    -   Port: An interface associated with a component, between that        component and a EGIO link;    -   Receiver: The component receiving packet information across a        link is the receiver (sometimes referred to as a target);    -   Request: A packet used to initiate a sequence is referred to as        a request. A request includes some operation code and, in some        cases, includes address and length, data or other information;    -   Requester: A logical device that first introduces a sequence        into the EGIO domain;    -   Requester ID: A combination of one or more of a requester's bus        identifier (e.g., bus number), device identifier and a function        identifier that uniquely identifies the requester. In most        cases, an EGIO bridge or switch forwards requests from one        interface to another without modifying the requester ID. A        bridge from a bus other than an EGIO bus should typically store        the requester ID for use when creating a completion for that        request;    -   Root Complex: An entity that includes a Host Bridge and one or        more Root Ports;    -   Root Port: An EGIO Port on a root complex that maps a portion of        the EGIO interconnect hierarchy through an associated virtual        PCI-PCI bridge;    -   Sequence: A single request and zero or more completions        associated with carrying out a single logical transfer by a        requester;    -   Sequence ID: A combination of one or more of a requester ID and        a Tag, wherein the combination uniquely identifies requests and        completions that are part of a common sequence;    -   Split transaction: A single logical transfer containing an        initial transaction (the split request) that the target (the        completer, or bridge) terminates with a split response, followed        by one or more transactions (the split completions) initiated by        the completer (or bridge) to send the read data (if a read) or a        completion message back to the requester;    -   Symbol: A 10 bit quantity produced as the result of 8 b/10 b        encoding;    -   Symbol Time: The period of time required to place a symbol on a        lane;    -   Tag: A number assigned to a given sequence by the requester to        distinguish it from other sequences—part of the sequence ID;    -   Transaction Layer Packet: TLP is a packet generated within the        transaction layer to convey a request or completion;    -   Transaction Layer: The outermost (uppermost) layer of the EGIO        architecture that operates at the level of transactions (e.g.,        read, write, etc.).    -   Transaction Descriptor: An element of a packet header that, in        addition to address, length and type describes the properties of        a transaction.        Example Electronic Appliance and the EGIO Architecture

FIG. 1 provides a block diagram of electronic appliance 100incorporating an enhanced general input/output (EGIO) interconnectarchitecture, protocol and related methods, in accordance with anexample embodiment of the invention. As shown, electronic appliance 100is depicted comprising a number of electronic elements including one ormore of processor(s) 102, a root complex (e.g., including a host bridge)104, switches 108 and end-points 110, each coupled as shown. Inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention, at least rootcomplex 104, switch(es) 108, and end-points 110 are endowed with one ormore instances of an EGIO communication interface 106 to facilitate oneor more aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

As shown, each of the elements 102, 104, 108 and 110 are communicativelycoupled to at least one other element through a communication link 112supporting one or more EGIO communication channel(s) via the EGIOinterface 106. According to one example implementation, the operatingparameters of the EGIO interconnection architecture is establishedduring an initialization event of the host electronic appliance, or uponthe dynamic connection of a peripheral to the electronic appliance(e.g., hot-plug device). As introduced above, electronic appliance 100is intended to represent one or more of any of a wide variety oftraditional and non-traditional computing systems, servers, networkswitches, network routers, wireless communication subscriber units,wireless communication telephony infrastructure elements, personaldigital assistants, set-top boxes, or any electric appliance that wouldbenefit from the communication resources introduced through integrationof at least a subset of the EGIO interconnection architecture,communications protocol or related methods described herein.

In accordance with the illustrated example implementation of FIG. 1,electronic appliance 100 is endowed with one or more processor(s) 102.As used herein, processor(s) 102 control one or more aspects of thefunctional capability of the electronic appliance 100. In this regard,processor(s) 102 are representative of any of a wide variety of controllogic including, but not limited to one or more of a microprocessor, aprogrammable logic device (PLD), programmable logic array (PLA),application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microcontroller, andthe like.

As introduced above, the root complex 104 provides an EGIOcommunications interface between processor 102 and/or a processor/memorycomplex and one or more other elements 108, 110 of the electronicappliance EGIO architecture. As used herein, the root complex 104 refersto a logical entity of an EGIO hierarchy that is closest to a hostcontroller, a memory controller hub, an IO controller hub, anycombination of the above, or some combination of chipset/CPU elements(i.e., in a computing system environment). In this regard, althoughdepicted in FIG. 1 as a single unit, root complex 104 may well bethought of as a single logical entity that may well have multiplephysical components.

According to the illustrated example implementation of FIG. 1, rootcomplex 104 is populated with one or more EGIO interface(s) 106 tofacilitate communication with other peripheral devices, e.g., switch(es)108, end-point(s) 110 and, although not particularly depicted, legacybridge(s) 114, or 116. According to one example implementation, eachEGIO interface 106 represents a different EGIO hierarchy domain. In thisregard, the illustrated implementation of FIG. 1 denotes a root complex104 with three (3) hierarchy domains. It should be noted that althoughdepicted as comprising multiple separate EGIO interfaces 106, alternateimplementations are anticipated wherein a single interface 106 isendowed with multiple ports to accommodate communication with multipledevices.

According to one example implementation, root complex 104 is responsiblefor identifying the communication requirements (e.g., virtual channelrequirements, isochronous channel requirements, etc.) of each of theelements of the EGIO architecture. According to one exampleimplementation, such communication requirements are passed to the rootcomplex 104 during an initialization event of the host appliance 100, orany element thereof (e.g., in a hot-plug event). In an alternateembodiment, root complex 104 interrogates such elements to identify thecommunication requirements. Once these communication parameters areidentified, root complex 104 establishes, e.g., through a negotiationprocess, the terms and conditions of the EGIO communication facilitiesfor each element of the architecture.

In the EGIO architecture disclosed herein, switches selectively coupleend-points within and between EGIO hierarchies and/or domains. Accordingto one example implementation, an EGIO switch 108 has at least oneupstream port (i.e., directed towards the root complex 104), and atleast one downstream port. According to one implementation, a switch 108distinguishes one port (i.e., a port of an interface or the interface106 itself) which is closest to the host bridge as the upstream port,while all other port(s) are downstream ports. According to oneimplementation, switches 108 appear to configuration software (e.g.,legacy configuration software) as a PCI-to-PCI bridge, and use PCIbridge mechanisms for routing transactions.

In the context of switches 108, peer-to-peer transactions are defined astransactions for which the receive port and the transmitting port areboth downstream ports. According to one implementation, switches 108support routing of all types of transaction layer packets (TLP) exceptthose associated with a locked transaction sequence from any port to anyother port. In this regard, all broadcast messages should typically berouted from the receiving port to all other ports on the switch 108. Atransaction layer packet which cannot be routed to a port shouldtypically be terminated as an unsupported TLP by the switch 108.Switches 108 typically do not modify transaction layer packet(s) (TLP)when transferring them from the receiving port to the transmitting portunless modification is required to conform to a different protocolrequirement for the transmitting port (e.g., transmitting port coupledto a legacy bridge 114, 116).

It is to be appreciated that switches 108 act on behalf of other devicesand, in this regard, do not have advance knowledge of traffic types andpatterns. According to one implementation to be discussed more fullybelow, the flow control and data integrity aspects of the presentinvention are implemented on a per-link basis, and not on an end-to-endbasis. Thus, in accordance with such an implementation, switches 108participate in protocols used for flow control and data integrity. Toparticipate in flow control, switch 108 maintains a separate flowcontrol for each of the ports to improve performance characteristics ofthe switch 108. Similarly, switch 108 supports data integrity processeson a per-link basis by checking each TLP entering the switch using theTLP error detection mechanisms, described more fully below. According toone implementation, downstream ports of a switch 108 are permitted toform new EGIO hierarchy domains.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, an end-point 110 is defined as anydevice with a Type 00hex (00h) configuration space header. End-pointdevices 110 can be either a requester or a completer of an EGIO semantictransaction, either on its own behalf or on behalf of a distinctnon-EGIO device. Examples of such end-points 110 include, but are notlimited to, EGIO compliant graphics device(s), EGIO-compliant memorycontroller, and/or devices that implement a connection between EGIO andsome other interface such as a universal serial bus (USB), Ethernet, andthe like. Unlike a legacy bridge 114, 116 discussed more fully below, anend-point 110 acting as an interface for non-EGIO compliant devices maywell not provide full software support for such non-EGIO compliantdevices. While devices that connect a host processor complex 102 to theEGIO architecture are considered a root complex 104, it may well be thesame device type as other end-points 110 located within the EGIOarchitecture distinguished only by its location relative to theprocessor complex 102.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, end-points110 may be lumped into one or more of three categories, (1) legacy andEGIO compliant end-points, (2) legacy end-points, and (3) EGIO compliantend-points, each having different rules of operation within the EGIOarchitecture.

As introduced above, EGIO-compliant end-points 110 are distinguishedfrom legacy end-points (e.g., 118, 120) in that an EGIO end-point 110will have a type 00h configuration space header. Either of suchend-points (110, 118 and 120) support configuration requests as acompleter. Such end-points are permitted to generate configurationrequests, and may be classified as either a legacy end-point or as anEGIO compliant end-point, but such classification may well requireadherence to additional rules.

Legacy end-points (e.g., 118, 120) are permitted to support IO requestsas a completer and are permitted to generate IO requests. Legacyend-points (118, 120) are permitted to generate lock semantics, e.g., inaccordance with conventional PCI operation, as completers if that isrequired by their legacy software support requirements. Legacyend-points (118, 120) typically do not issue a locked request.

EGIO compliant end-points 110 typically do not support IO requests as acompleter and do not generate IO requests. EGIO end-points 110 do notsupport locked requests as a completer, and do not generate lockedrequests as a requester.

EGIO-to-legacy bridges 114, 116 are specialized end-points 110 thatinclude substantial software support, e.g., full software support, forthe legacy devices (118, 120) they interface to the EGIO architecture.In this regard, an EGIO-legacy bridge 114, 116 typically has oneupstream port (but may have more), with multiple downstream ports (butmay just have one). Locked requests are supported in accordance with thelegacy software model (e.g., the PCI software model). An upstream portof an EGIO-legacy bridge 114, 116 should support flow control on aper-link basis and adhere to the flow control and data integrity rulesof the EGIO architecture, developed more fully below.

As used herein, communication link 112 is intended to represent any of awide variety of communication media including, but not limited to,copper lines, optical lines, wireless communication channel(s), aninfrared communication link, and the like. According to one exampleimplementation, EGIO link 112 is a differential pair of serial lines,one pair each to support transmit and receive communications, therebyproviding support for full-duplex communication capability. According toone implementation, the link provides a scalable serial clockingfrequency with an initial (base) operating frequency of 2.5 GHz. Theinterface width, per direction, is scalable from x1, x2, x4, x8, x12,x16, x32 physical lanes. As introduced above and will be described morefully below, EGIO link 112 may well support multiple virtual channelsbetween devices thereby providing support for uninterruptedcommunication of isochronous traffic between such devices using one ormore virtual channels, e.g., one channel for audio and one channel forvideo.

Example EGIO Interface Architecture

In accordance with the illustrated example implementation of FIG. 2, theEGIO interface 106 may well be represented as a communication protocolstack comprising a transaction layer 202, a data link layer 204 and aphysical layer 208. As shown, the physical link layer interface isdepicted comprising a logical sub-block 210, and a physical sub-block,as shown, each of which will be developed more fully below.

Transaction Layer 202

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, thetransaction layer 202 provides an interface between the EGIOarchitecture and a device core. In this regard, a primary responsibilityof the transaction layer 202 is the assembly and disassembly of packets(i.e., transaction layer packets, or TLPs) for one or more logicaldevices within a host device (or, agent).

Address Spaces, Transaction Types and Usage

Transactions form the basis for information transfer between aninitiator agent and a target agent. According to one example embodiment,four address spaces are defined within the innovative EGIO architectureincluding, for example, a configuration address space, a memory addressspace, an input/output address space, and a message address space, eachwith its own unique intended usage (see, e.g., FIG. 7, developed morefully below).

Memory space (706) transactions include one or more of read requests andwrite requests to transfer data to/from a memory-mapped location. Memoryspace transactions may use two different address formats, e.g., a shortaddress format (e.g., 32-bit address) or a long address format (e.g.,64-bits long). According to one example embodiment, the EGIOarchitecture provides for conventional read, modify, and write sequencesusing lock protocol semantics (i.e., where an agent may well lock accessto modified memory space). More particularly, support for downstreamlocks are permitted, in accordance with particular device rules (bridge,switch, end-point, legacy bridge). As introduced above, such locksemantics are supported in the support of legacy devices.

IO space (704) transactions are used to access input/output mappedmemory registers within an IO address space (e.g., an 16-bit IO addressspace). Certain processors 102 such as Intel Architecture processors,and others, include n IO space definition through the processor'sinstructions set. Accordingly, IO space transactions include readrequests and write requests to transfer data from/to an IO mappedlocation.

Configuration space (702) transactions are used to access configurationspace of the EGIO devices. Transactions to the configuration spaceinclude read requests and write requests. In as much as conventionalprocessors do not typically include a native configuration space, thisspace is mapped through a mechanism that is software compatible withconvention PCI configuration space access mechanisms (e.g., usingCFC/CFC8-based PCI configuration mechanism #1). Alternatively, a memoryalias mechanism may well be used to access configuration space.

Message space (708) transactions (or, simply messages) are defined tosupport in-band communication between EGIO agents through interface(s)106. Conventional processors do not include support for native messagespace, so this is enabled through EGIO agents within the EGIO interface106. According to one example implementation, traditional “side-band”signals such as interrupts and power management requests are implementedas messages to reduce the pin count required to support such legacysignals. Some processors, and the PCI bus, include the concept of“special cycles,” which are also mapped into messages within the EGIOinterface 106. According to one embodiment, messages are generallydivided into two categories: standard messages and vendor-definedmessages.

In accordance with the illustrated example embodiment, standard messagesinclude a general-purpose message group and a system management messagegroup. General-purpose messages may be a single destination message or abroadcast/multicast message. The system management message group maywell consist of one or more of interrupt control messages, powermanagement messages, ordering control primitives, and error signaling,examples of which are introduced below.

According to one example implementation, the general purpose messagesinclude messages for support of locked transaction. In accordance withthis example implementation, an UNLOCK message is introduced, whereinswitches (e.g., 108) should typically forward the UNLOCK message throughany port which may be taking part in a locked transaction. End-pointdevices (e.g., 110, 118, 120) which receive an UNLOCK message when theyare not locked will ignore the message. Otherwise, locked devices willunlock upon receipt of an UNLOCK message.

According to one example implementation, the system management messagegroup includes special messages for ordering and/or synchronization. Onesuch message is a FENCE message, used to impose strict ordering rules ontransactions generated by receiving elements of the EGIO architecture.According to one implementation, such FENCE messages are only reacted toby a select subset of network elements, e.g., end-points. In addition tothe foregoing, messages denoting a correctable error, uncorrectableerror, and fatal errors are anticipated herein, e.g., through the use oftailer error forwarding discussed below.

According to one aspect of the present invention, introduced above, thesystem management message group provides for signaling of interruptsusing in-band messages. According to one implementation, theASSERT_INTx/DEASSERT_INTx message pair is introduced, wherein issuing ofthe assert interrupt message is sent to the processor complex throughhost bridge 104. In accordance with the illustrated exampleimplementation, usage rules for the ASSERT_INTx/DEASSERT_INTx messagepair mirrors that of the PCI INTx# signals found in the PCIspecification, introduced above. From any one device, for everytransmission of Assert_INTx, there should typically be a correspondingtransmission of Deassert_INTx. For a particular ‘x’ (A, B, C or D),there should typically be only one transmission of Assert_INTxpreceeding a transmission of Deassert_INTx. Switches should typicallyroute Assert_INTx/Deassert_INTx messages to the root complex 104,wherein the root complex should typically trackAssert_INTx/Deassert_INTx messages to generate virtual interrupt signalsand map these signals to system interrupt resources.

In addition to the general purpose and system management message groups,the EGIO architecture establishes a standard framework within whichcore-logic (e.g., chipset) vendors can define their own vendor-definedmessages tailored to fit the specific operating requirements of theirplatforms. This framework is established through a common message headerformat where encodings for vendor-defined messages are defined as“reserved”.

Transaction Descriptor

A transaction descriptor is a mechanism for carrying transactioninformation from the origination point, to the point of service, andback. It provides an extensible means for providing a genericinterconnection solution that can support new types of emergingapplications. In this regard, the transaction descriptor supportsidentification of transactions in the system, modifications of defaulttransaction ordering, and association of transaction with virtualchannels using the virtual channel ID mechanism. A graphicalillustration of a transaction descriptor is presented with reference toFIG. 3.

Turning to FIG. 3, a graphical illustration of a datagram comprising anexample transaction descriptor is presented, in accordance with theteachings of the present invention. In accordance with the teachings ofthe present invention, the transaction descriptor 300 is presentedcomprising a global identifier field 302, an attributes field 306 and avirtual channel identifier field 308. In the illustrated exampleimplementation, the global identifier field 302 is depicted comprising alocal transaction identifier field 308 and a source identifier field310.

Global Transaction Identifier 302

As used herein, the global transaction identifier is unique for alloutstanding requests. In accordance with the illustrated exampleimplementation of FIG. 3, the global transaction identifier 302 consistsof two sub-fields: the local transaction identifier field 308 and asource identifier field 310. According to one implementation, the localtransaction identifier field 308 is an eight-bit field generated by eachrequester, and it is unique for all outstanding requests that require acompletion for that requester. The source identifier uniquely identifiesthe EGIO agent within the EGIO hierarchy. Accordingly, together withsource ID the local transaction identifier field provides globalidentification of a transaction within a hierarchy domain.

According to one implementation, the local transaction identifier 308allows requests/completions from a single source of requests to behandled out of order (subject to the ordering rules developed more fullybelow). For example, a source of read requests can generate reads A1 andA2. The destination agent that services these read requests may return acompletion for request A2 transaction ID first, and then a completionfor A1 second. Within the completion packet header, local transaction IDinformation will identify which transaction is being completed. Such amechanism is particularly important to appliances that employdistributed memory systems since it allows for handling of read requestsin a more efficient manner. Note that support for such out-of-order readcompletions assumes that devices that issue read requests will ensurepre-allocation of buffer space for the completion. As introduced above,insofar as EGIO switches 108 are not end-points (i.e., merely passingcompletion requests to appropriate end-points) they need not reservebuffer space.

A single read request can result in multiple completions. Completionsbelonging to single read request can be returned out-of-order withrespect to each other. This is supported by providing the address offsetof the original request that corresponds to partial completion within aheader of a completion packet (i.e., completion header).

According to one example implementation, the source identifier field 310contains a 16-bit value that is unique for every logical EGIO device.Note that a single EGIO device may well include multiple logicaldevices. The source ID value is assigned during system configuration ina manner transparent to the standard PCI bus enumeration mechanism. EGIOdevices internally and autonomously establish a source ID value using,for example, bus number information available during initialconfiguration accesses to those devices, along with internally availableinformation that indicates, for example, a device number and a streamnumber. According to one implementation, such bus number information isgenerated during EGIO configuration cycles using a mechanism similar tothat used for PCI configuration. According to one implementation, thebus number is assigned by a PCI initialization mechanism and captured byeach device. In the case of Hot Plug and Hot Swap devices, such deviceswill need to re-capture this bus number information on everyconfiguration cycle access to enable transparency to hot plug controller(e.g., a standard hot plug controller (SHPC)) software stacks.

In accordance with one implementation of the EGIO architecture, aphysical component may well contain one or more logical devices (or,agents). Each logical device is designed to respond to configurationcycles targeted at its particular device number, i.e., the notion ofdevice number is embedded within the logical device. According to oneimplementation, up to sixteen logical devices are allowed in a singlephysical component. Each of such logical devices may well contain one ormore streaming engines, e.g., up to a maximum of sixteen. Accordingly, asingle physical component may well comprise up to 256 streaming engines.

Transactions tagged by different source identifiers belong to differentlogical EGIO input/output (IO) sources and can, therefore, be handledcompletely independently from each other from an ordering point of view.In the case of a three-party, peer-to-peer transactions, a fenceordering control primitive can be used to force ordering if necessary.

As used herein, the global transaction identifier field 302 of thetransaction descriptor 300 adheres to at least a subset of the followingrules:

-   -   (a) each Completion Required Request is tagged with a global        transaction ID (GTID);    -   (b) all outstanding Completion Required Requests initiated by an        agent should typically be assigned a unique GTID;    -   (c) non-Completion Required Requests do not use the local        transaction ID field 308 of the GTID, and the local transaction        ID field is treated as Reserved;    -   (d) the target does not modify the requests GTID in any way, but        simply echoes it in the header of a completion packet for all        completions associate with the request, where the initiator used        the GTID to match the completion(s) to the original request.

Attributes Field 304

As used herein, the attributes field 304 specifies characteristics andrelationships of the transaction. In this regard, the attributes field304 is used to provide additional information that allows modificationof the default handling of transactions. These modifications may applyto different aspects of handling of the transactions within the systemsuch as, for example, ordering, hardware coherency management (e.g.,snoop attributes) and priority. An example format for the attributesfield 304 is presented with sub-fields 312-318.

As shown, the attribute field 304 includes a priority sub-field 312. Thepriority sub-field may be modified by an initiator to assign a priorityto the transaction. In one example implementation, for example, class orquality of service characteristics of a transaction or an agent may beembodied in the priority sub-field 312, thereby affecting processing byother system elements.

The reserved attribute field 314 is left reserved for future, orvendor-defined usage. Possible usage models using priority or securityattributes may be implemented using the reserved attribute field.

The ordering attribute field 316 is used to supply optional informationconveying the type of ordering that may modify default ordering ruleswithin the same ordering plane (where the ordering plane encompasses thetraffic initiated by the host processor (102) and the IO device with itscorresponding source ID). According to one example implementation, anordering attribute of “0” denotes default ordering rules are to apply,wherein an ordering attribute of “1” denotes relaxed ordering, whereinwrites can pass writes in the same direction, and read completions canpass writes in the same direction. Devices that use relaxed orderingsemantics primarily for moving the data and transactions with defaultordering for reading/writing status information.

The snoop attribute field 318 is used to supply optional informationconveying the type of cache coherency management that may modify defaultcache coherency management rules within the same ordering plane, whereinan ordering plane encompasses traffic initiated by a host processor 102and the IO device with its corresponding source ID). In accordance withone example implementation, a snoop attribute field 318 value of “0”corresponds to a default cache coherency management scheme whereintransactions are snooped to enforce hardware level cache coherency. Avalue of “1” in the snoop attribute field 318, on the other hand,suspends the default cache coherency management schemes and transactionsare not snooped. Rather, the data being accessed is either non-cacheableor its coherency is being managed by software.

Virtual Channel ID Field 306

As used herein, the virtual channel ID field 306 identifies anindependent virtual channel to which the transaction is associated.According to one embodiment, the virtual channel identifier (VCID) is afour-bit field that allows identification of up to sixteen virtualchannels (VCs) on a per-transaction basis. An example of VC IDdefinitions are provided in table 1, below:

TABLE I Virtual Channel ID Encoding VC ID VC Name Usage Model 0000Default Channel General Purpose Traffic 0001 Isochronous Channel Thischannel is used to carry IO traffic that has the following requirements:(a) IO traffic is not snooped to allow for deterministic service timing;and (b) quality of service is controlled using an X/T contract (where X= amount of data, and T = time) 0010-1111 Reserved Future UseVirtual Channels

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the transactionlayer 202 of the EGIO interface 106 supports the establishment and useof virtual channel(s) within the bandwidth of the EGIO communicationlink 112. The virtual channel (VC) aspect of the present invention,introduced above, is used to define separate, logical communicationinterfaces within a single physical EGIO link 112 based on the requiredindependence of the content to be communicated over the channel. In thisregard, virtual channels may well be established based on one or morecharacteristics, e.g., bandwidth requirements, class of service, type ofservice (e.g., system service channel), etc.

The combination of virtual channel(s) and traffic (or, transaction)class identifiers is provided to support differentiated services andQuality of Service (QoS) support for certain class of applications. Asused herein, a traffic (or, transaction) class is a transaction layerpacket label that is transmitted unmodified end-to-end through the EGIOfabric. At every service point (e.g., switches, root complex, etc.) thetraffic class labels are used by the service point to apply theappropriate servicing policies. In this regard, separate VCs are used tomap traffic that would benefit from different handling policies andservicing priorities. For example, traffic that requires deterministicquality of service, in terms of guaranteeing X amount of datatransferred within T period of time, can be mapped to an isochronous(or, time coordinated) virtual channel. Transactions mapped to differentvirtual channels may not have any ordering requirements with respect toeach other. That is, virtual channels operate as separate logicalinterfaces, having different flow control rules and attributes.

According to one example implementation, each EGIO communication port(input or output) of an EGIO-compliant element includes a portcapability data structure (not specifically depicted). Informationregarding the capability of the port including one or more of (a) thenumber of virtual channels supported by the port, (b) the trafficclasses associated with each of the virtual channels, (c) a port VCstatus register, (d) a port VC control register, and (e) the arbitrationscheme associated with such virtual channels is maintained in the portcapability data structure. According to one example implementation, thecommunication operating parameters and, by association, the portcapability parameters are negotiated between coupled elements on aper-link, per-VC basis.

With respect to traffic initiated by host processor 102, virtualchannels may require ordering control based on default order mechanismrules, or the traffic may be handled completely out of order. Accordingto one example implementation, VCs comprehend the following two types oftraffic: general purpose IO traffic, and Isochronous traffic. That is,in accordance with this example implementation, two types of virtualchannels are described: (1) general purpose IO virtual channels, and (2)isochronous virtual channels.

As used herein, transaction layer 202 maintains independent flow controlfor each of the one or more virtual channel(s) actively supported by thecomponent. As used herein, all EGIO compliant components shouldtypically support a default general IO type virtual channel, e.g.,virtual channel 0, a “best effort” class of service where there are noordering relationships required between disparate virtual channels ofthis type. By default, VC 0 is used for general purpose IO traffic,while VC 1 or higher (e.g., VC1-VC7) are assigned to handle Isochronoustraffic. In alternate implementations, any virtual channel may beassigned to handle any traffic type. A conceptual illustration of anEGIO link comprising multiple, independently managed virtual channels ispresented with reference to FIG. 4.

Turning to FIG. 4, a graphical illustration of an example EGIO link 112is presented comprising multiple virtual channels (VC), according to oneaspect of the present invention. In accordance with the illustratedexample implementation of FIG. 4, EGIO link 112 is presented comprisingmultiple virtual channels 402, 404 created between EGIO interface(s)106. According to one example implementation, with respect to virtualchannel 402, traffic from multiple sources 406A . . . N are illustrated,differentiated by at least their source ID. As shown, virtual channel402 was established with no ordering requirements between transactionsfrom different sources (e.g., agents, interfaces, etc.).

Similarly, virtual channel 404 is presented comprising traffic frommultiple sources multiple transactions 408A . . . N wherein each of thetransactions are denoted by at least a source ID. In accordance with theillustrated example, transactions from source ID 0 406A are stronglyordered unless modified by the attributes field 304 of the transactionheader, while the transactions from source 408N depict no such orderingrules.

Isochronous Channels

As introduced above, isochronous channels are established to communicatetime sensitive content (e.g., the streaming of multimedia content)between a requester agent and completer agent(s) in the EGIOarchitecture of the electronic appliance 100. According to one exampleimplementation, two different isochronous communication paradigms existwithin the EGIO architecture, e.g., an endpoint-to-root complex modeland a peer-to-peer (or, endpoint-to-endpoint) communication model.

In the endpoint-to-root complex model, the primary isochronous trafficis memory read and write requests to the root complex 104 and readcompletions from the root complex 104. In the peer-to-peer model,isochronous traffic is limited to unicast, push-only transactions (e.g.,posted transactions such as memory writes, or messages). The push-onlytransactions can be within a single host domain or across multiple hostdomains.

In order to support isochronous data transfer with guaranteed bandwidthand deterministic service latency, an isochronous “contract” isestablished between the requester/completer pair and the EGIOcommunication fabric. According to one embodiment, the “contract” willenforce resource reservation and traffic regulation to preventover-subscription and congestion on the virtual channel.

An example method for establishing and managing an isochronouscommunication channel within the EGIO architecture is presented withreference to FIG. 5. In accordance with the illustrated exampleembodiment of FIG. 5, the method begins with block 502, wherein thecommunication capabilities of the one or more elements of the EGIOfabric (i.e., root complex 104, switches 108, end-points 110, links 112,bridges 114, etc.) is identified.

According to one example implementation, the communication capability ofat least a subset of the EGIO fabric is exposed to a bandwidth managerof the root complex 104, which manages allocation of isochronouscommunication resources within the EGIO architecture. Exposure of thecommunication capability of an element occurs during an initializationperiod of the element, e.g., at start-up of the host electronicappliance 100, or upon the hot-plug of an EGIO compliant device to thehost electronic appliance. According to one embodiment, the informationexposed (e.g., from a data structure within the EGIO agent 106) includesone or more of port identification, port allocation, virtual channelassignment(s), bandwidth capability, etc. This information is maintainedin a data structure accessible by bandwidth manager for use indeveloping isochronous contracts, as detailed more fully below.

During the course of normal operation of the electronic appliance 100,it may become necessary or desirable to establish an isochronouscommunication channel between two (or more) agents within comprising theappliance 100. In such an instance, bandwidth manager of root complex104 receives a request for isochronous communication resources withinthe EGIO fabric from (or, on behalf of) a requester/completer pair,block 504. As used herein, the request includes an indication of thedesired communication resources, e.g., bandwidth and service latencyrequirements.

In block 506, upon receiving the request for isochronous communicationresources, the bandwidth manager of root complex 104 analyzes theavailable communication resources of at least an appropriate subset ofthe EGIO architecture to determine, in block 508, whether the requestfor isochronous communication resources can be accommodated. Accordingto one embodiment, bandwidth manager of root complex 104 analyzesinformation associated with the ports 106, switch(es) 108, link(s) 112,etc. comprising the communication path between the requester and thecompleter to determine whether the bandwidth and service latencyrequirements of the isochronous communication request can be met. Inalternate embodiments, the requester/completer pair merely establishesthe isochronous contract (or, negotiated agreement as to operatingparameters) among themselves, and any intervening elements on alink-by-link basis.

If, in block 508 bandwidth manager of root complex 104 determines thatthe requested communication resources are not available, root complex104 rejects the request for the isochronous channel, and may provide anindication that the requested resources are not available, block 510.According to certain embodiments, an indication of the availableresources may well be provided to the requester/completer pair, whichmay then decide to reissue the request for isochronous communicationresources, albeit in accordance with the denoted available resources. Inan alternate embodiment, a bandwidth manager will notify the entity thatrequested the resource that certain bandwidth (that might be less thenrequested) is allocated. In this case requesting entity would not needto re-issue the request.

According to one example embodiment, in determining whether the requestfor isochronous communication resources can be met, and in establishingthe isochronous contract in block 512, bandwidth manager of root complex104 computes the bandwidth requirements of the requester/completer pairas follows:BW=(N*Y)/T  [1]The formula defines allocated bandwidth (BW) as a function of specifiednumber (N) of transactions of a specified payload size (Y) within aspecified time period (T).

Another important parameter in the isochronous contract is latency.Based on the contract, isochronous transactions are to be completedwithin a specified latency (L). Once a requester/completer pair isadmitted by the bandwidth manager for isochronous communication, undernormal operation conditions, the bandwidth and latency are guaranteed tothe requester by the completer and by any intervening EGIO architectureelement (e.g., switches, link(s), root complex, etc.).

Accordingly, the isochronous contract developed in block 512 definesspecific service disciplines implemented by the EGIO interface(s) 106participating in the isochronous communication within the EGIOarchitecture. The service disciplines are imposed to EGIO switches 108and completers (e.g., endpoints 110, root complex 104, etc.) in such amanner that the service of isochronous requests is subject to a specificservice interval (t). This mechanism is used to provide the method ofcontrolling when an isochronous packet injected by a requester isserviced.

Consequently, isochronous traffic is policed, block 514, in such amanner that only packets that can be injected into the EGIO architecturein compliance with the negotiated isochronous contract are allowed tomake immediate progress and start being serviced by the EGIOarchitecture elements. A non-compliant requester that attempts to injectmore isochronous traffic than is allowed per the negotiated contract isprevented from doing so by a flow control mechanism, described morefully below (see, e.g., the data link layer feature set).

According to one example implementation, the isochronous time period (T)is uniformly divided into units of virtual timeslots (t). Up to oneisochronous request is allowed within a virtual timeslot. According toone embodiment, the size (or, duration) of the virtual timeslotsupported by an EGIO component is provided as header information withina data structure of the EGIO interface. In alternate implementations,the size of the virtual timeslot is reported to through a broadcastmessage from the EGIO component upon receipt of an initialization event(e.g., cold start, reset, etc.). In another alternate implementation,the size of the virtual timeslot is reported through a specialinformation message from the EGIO component upon receipt of a specialrequest message. In yet another alternate implementation the size ofvirtual timeslot can be fixed and isochronous bandwidth manager softwarecan interleave active and inactive slots (during bandwidth assignment)in a manner that it effectively creates a “wider” timeslots.

According to one embodiment, the duration of the virtual timeslot (t) is100 ns. The duration of the isochronous time period (T) depends on thenumber of phases of the supported time-based arbitration scheme (e.g.,the time-based weighted round-robin (WRR) (or, weighted sequential)).According to one embodiment, the number of phases is defined by thenumber of isochronous virtual timeslots, denoted by the number ofentries in a port arbitration table maintained within each element. Whenthe port arbitration table size equals 128, there are 128 virtualtimeslots (t) available in an isochronous time period, i.e., T=12.8 μs.

According to one example embodiment, a maximum payload size (Y) forisochronous transactions is established during the EGIO configurationperiod. After configuration, the max payload size is fixed within agiven EGIO hierarchy domain. The fixed max payload size value is usedfor isochronous bandwidth budgeting regardless of the actual size ofdata payload associated with isochronous transactions between arequester/completer.

Given the discussion of isochronous period (T), virtual timeslots (t)and maximum payload (Y), the maximum number of virtual timeslots withina time period is:N _(max) =T/t.  [2]

And the maximum specifiable isochronous bandwidth is:BW _(max) =Y/t.  [3]

The granularity with which isochronous bandwidth can be allocated istherefore defined as:BW _(granularity) =Y/T.  [4]Assigning isochronous bandwidth BW_(link) to a communication link 112 isakin to assigning N_(link) virtual timeslots per isochronous period (T),were N_(link) is given by:N _(link) =BW _(link) /BW _(granularity)  [5]

To maintain regulated access to the link, a port of the switch servingas an egress port for isochronous traffic establishes a data structure(e.g., the port arbitration table, introduced above) populated with upto N_(max) entries, where N_(max) is the maximum number of isochronoussessions permissible given the link bandwidth, granularity and latencyrequirements. An entry in the table represents one virtual timeslot inthe isochronous time period (T). When a table entry is given a value ofa port number (PN) it means that the timeslot is assigned to an ingressport designated by the port number. Therefore, N_(link) virtualtimeslots are assigned to the ingress port when there are N_(link)entries in the port arbitration table given the value of PN. The egressport may admit one isochronous request transaction from the ingress portfor further service only when the table entry reached by the EgressPort's isochronous time counter (that increments by one (1) every t timeand wraps around when reaching T) is set to PN. Even if there areoutstanding isochronous requests ready in the ingress port, they willnot be served until a next round of arbitration (e.g., time-based,weighted round-robin (WRR) arbitration). In this manner, the time-basedport arbitration data structure serves for both isochronous bandwidthassignment and traffic regulation.

As used herein, the transaction latency discussed above is composed ofthe latency through the EGIO fabric and the latency contributed by thecompleter. Isochronous transaction latency is defined for eachtransaction and measured in units of virtual timeslot t.

For a requester in the endpoint-to-root complex communication model, theread latency is defined as the round-trip latency, i.e., the delay fromthe time when the device submits a memory read request packet to itstransaction layer (on the transmit side) to the time when thecorresponding read completion arrives at the device's transaction layer(receive side). For a requester in either communication model, the writelatency is defined as the delay from the time when the requester posts amemory write request to the transmit side of its transaction layer tothe time when the data write becomes globally visible within the memorysubsystem of the completer. A write to memory reaches the point ofglobal visibility when all agents accessing that memory address get theupdated data.

As part of the isochronous contract, an upper bound and a lower bound ofisochronous transaction latency are provided. The size of isochronousdata buffers in a requester can be determined using the minimum andmaximum isochronous transaction latencies. As developed more fullybelow, the minimum isochronous transaction latency is much smaller thanthe maximum isochronous transaction latency.

For a requester, the maximum isochronous (read or write) transactionlatency (L) can be accounted for in accordance with equation (6) below,L=L _(fabric) +L _(completer)  [6]where L_(fabric) is the maximum latency of the EGIO fabric, andL_(completer) is the maximum latency of the completer.

Transaction latency for an EGIO link 112 or the EGIO fabric is definedas the delay from the time a transaction is posted at the transmissionend to the time it is available at the receiving end. This applies toboth read and write transactions. In this regard, L_(fabric) depends onthe topology, latency due to each link 112 and arbitration point in thepath from requester to completer.

With continued reference to FIG. 5, the process continues with block 516wherein bandwidth manager determines whether the use of an isochronouscommunication channel is complete. That is, bandwidth manager determineswhether the isochronous communication session has ended and,accordingly, whether the virtual channel resources allocated to supportthe isochronous channel can be released for use by the EGIO fabric.According to one embodiment, bandwidth manager receives an indicationfrom one or more of the requester/completer pair that the isochronousresources are no longer required. In an alternate embodiment, after acertain period of inactivity, bandwidth manager concludes that theisochronous communications have completed.

If, in block 516, bandwidth manager determines that the isochronouscommunication has not ended, the process continues with block 514.

Alternatively, the process continues with block 518 wherein bandwidthmanager cancels the isochronous contract, thereby releasing suchbandwidth to the support of the remaining virtual channels. According toone embodiment, bandwidth manager informs one or more other elements ofthe EGIO architecture that the isochronous contract is no longerenforced.

Transaction Ordering

Although it may be simpler to force all responses to be processedin-order, transaction layer 202 attempts to improve performance bypermitting transaction re-ordering. To facilitate such re-ordering,transaction layer 202 “tags” transactions. That is, according to oneembodiment, transaction layer 202 adds a transaction descriptor to eachpacket such that its transmit time may be optimized (e.g., throughre-ordering) by elements in the EGIO architecture, without losing trackof the relative order in which the packet was originally processed. Suchtransaction descriptors are used to facilitate routing of request andcompletion packets through the EGIO interface hierarchy.

Thus, one of the innovative aspects of the EGIO interconnectionarchitecture and communication protocol is that it provides for out oforder communication, thereby improving data throughput through reductionof idle or wait states. In this regard, the transaction layer 202employs a set of rules to define the ordering requirements for EGIOtransactions. Transaction ordering requirements are defined to ensurecorrect operation with software designed to support theproducer-consumer ordering model while, at the same time, allowingimproved transaction handling flexibility for application based ondifferent ordering models (e.g., relaxed ordering for graphics attachapplications). Ordering requirements for two different types of modelsare presented below, a single ordering plane model and a multipleordering plane model.

Basic Transaction Ordering—Single “Ordering Plane” Model

Assume that two components are connected via an EGIO architecturesimilar to that of FIG. 1: a memory control hub that provides aninterface to a host processor and a memory subsystem, and an IO controlhub that provides interface to an IO subsystem. Both hubs containinternal queues that handle inbound and outbound traffic and in thissimple model all IO traffic is mapped to a single “ordering plane”.(Note that Transaction Descriptor Source ID information provides aunique identification for each Agent within an EGIO Hierarchy. Note alsothat IO traffic mapped to the Source ID can carry different Transactionordering attributes). Ordering rules for this system configuration aredefined between IO-initiated traffic and host-initiated traffic. Fromthat perspective IO traffic mapped to a Source ID together with hostprocessor initiated traffic represent traffic that is conducted within asingle “ordering plane”.

An example of such transaction ordering rules are provided below withreference to Table II. The rules defined in this table apply uniformlyto all types of Transactions in the EGIO system including Memory, IO,Configuration and Messages. In Table II, below, the columns representthe first of two Transactions, and the rows represent the second. Thetable entry indicates the ordering relationship between the twoTransactions. The table entries are defined as follows:

TABLE II Transaction Ordering and Deadlock Avoidance for Single OrderingPlane WR_Req WR_Req Row pass (No compl. Req) RD_Req (compl. Req)RD_Comp. WR_Comp Column? (col. 2) (col. 3) (col. 4) (col. 5) (col. 6)WR_Req NO YES a. NO Y/N Y/N No comp Req b. YES (Row A) RD_Req NO a. NOY/N Y/N Y/N (Row B) b. Y/N WR_Req NO Y/N a. NO Y/N Y/N (comp. Req) b.Y/N (Row C) RD_Comp. NO YES YES a. NO Y/N (Row D) b. Y/N WR_Comp. Y/NYES YES Y/N Y/N (Row E) Yes - the second Transaction should typically beallowed to pass the first to avoid deadlock. (When blocking occurs, thesecond Transaction is required to pass the first Transaction. Fairnessshould typically be comprehended to prevent starvation). Y/N - there areno requirements. The first Transaction may optionally pass the secondTransaction or be blocked by it. No - the second Transaction shouldtypically not be allowed to pass the first Transaction. This is requiredto preserve strong ordering.

TABLE III Transaction Ordering Explanations Row: Column ID Explanationof Table II Entry A2 A posted memory write request (WR_REQ) shouldtypically not pass any other posted memory write request A3 A postedmemory write request should typically be allowed to pass read requeststo avoid deadlocks A4 a. A posted memory WR_REQ should typically not beallowed to pass a memory WR_REQ with a completion required attribute. b.A posted memory WR_REQ should typically be allowed to pass IO andConfiguration Requests to avoid deadlocks A5, A6 A posted memory WR_REQis not required to pass completions. To allow this implementationflexibility while still guaranteeing deadlock free operation, the EGIOcommunication protocol provides that agents guarantee acceptance ofcompletions B2, C2 These requests cannot pass a posted memory WR_REQ,thereby preserving strong write ordering required to supportproducer/consumer usage model. B3 a. In a base implementation (i.e., noout of order processing) read requests are not permitted to pass eachother. b. In alternate implementations, read request permitted to passeach other. Transaction identification is essential for providing suchfunctionality. B4, C3 Requests of different types are permitted to beblocked by or to be passed by each other. B5, B6, C5, C6 These requestsare permitted to be block by or to pass completions. D2 Read completionscannot pass a posted memory WR_Req (to preserve strong write ordering).D3, D4, E3, E4 Completions should typically be allowed to passnon-posted requests to avoid deadlocks D5 a. In a base implementation,read completions are not permitted to pass each other; b. In alternateimplementations, read completions are permitted to pass each other.Again, the need for strong transaction identification may well berequired. E6 These completions are permitted to pass each other.Important to maintain track of transactions using, e.g., transaction IDmechanism D6, E5 Completions of different types can pass each other. E2Write completions are permitted to e blocked by or to pass posted memoryWR_REQ. Such write transactions are actually moving in the oppositedirection and, therefore, have no ordering relationship

Advanced Transaction Ordering—“Multi-Plane” Transaction Ordering ModelThe previous section defined ordering rules within a single “orderingplane”. As introduced above, the EGIO interconnection architecture andcommunication protocol employs a unique Transaction Descriptor mechanismto associate additional information with a transaction to support moresophisticated ordering relationships. Fields in the TransactionDescriptor allow the creation of multiple “ordering planes” that areindependent of each other from an IO traffic ordering point of view.

Each “ordering plane” consists of queuing/buffering logic thatcorresponds to a particular IO device (designated by a unique Source ID)and of queuing/buffering logic that carries host processor initiatedtraffic. The ordering within the “plane” is typically defined onlybetween these two. The rules defined in the previous Section to supportthe Producer/Consumer usage model and to prevent deadlocks are enforcedfor each “ordering plane” independent of other “ordering planes”. Forexample, read Completions for Requests initiated by “plane” N can goaround Read Completions for Requests initiated by “plane” M. However,neither Read Completions for plane N nor the ones for plane M can goaround Posted Memory Writes initiated from the host.

Although use of the plane mapping mechanism permits the existence ofmultiple ordering planes, some or all of the ordering planes can be“collapsed” together to simplify the implementation (i.e. combiningmultiple separately controlled buffers/FIFOs into a single one). Whenall planes are collapsed together, the Transaction Descriptor Source IDmechanism is used only to facilitate routing of Transactions and it isnot used to relax ordering between independent streams of IO traffic.

In addition to the foregoing, the transaction descriptor mechanismprovides for modifying default ordering within a single ordering planeusing an ordering attribute. Modifications of ordering can, therefore,be controlled on per-transaction basis.

Transaction Layer Protocol Packet Format

As introduced above, the innovative EGIO architecture uses a packetbased protocol to exchange information between transaction layers of twodevices that communicate with one another. The EGIO architecturegenerally supports the Memory, IO, Configuration and Messagestransaction types. Such transactions are typically carried using requestor completion packets, wherein completion packets are only used whenrequired, i.e., to return data or to acknowledge receipt of atransaction.

With reference to FIG. 9 a graphical illustration of an exampletransaction layer protocol is presented, in accordance with theteachings of the present invention. In accordance with the illustratedexample implementation of FIG. 9, TLP header 900 is presented comprisinga format field, a type field, an extended type/extended length (ET/EL)field, and a length field. Note that some TLPs include data followingthe header as determined by the format field specified in the header. NoTLP should include more data than the limit set by MAX_PAYLOAD_SIZE. Inaccordance with one example implementation, TLP data is four-bytenaturally aligned and in increments of a four-byte double word (DW).

As used herein, the format (FMT) field specifies the format of the TLP,in accordance with the following definitions:

-   -   000-2DW Header, No Data    -   001-3DW Header, No Data    -   010-4DW Header, No Data    -   101-3DW Header, With Data    -   110-4DW Header, With Data    -   All Other Encodings are Reserved

The TYPE field is used to denote the type encodings used in the TLP.According to one implementation, both Fmt[2:0] and Type[3:0] shouldtypically be decoded to determine the TLP format. According to oneimplementation, the value in the type[3:0] field is used to determinewhether the extended type/extended length field is used to extend theType field or the Length field. The ET/EL field is typically only usedto extend the length field with memory-type read requests.

The length field provides an indication of the length of the payload,again in DW increments of:

-   -   :0000 0000=1DW    -   :0000 0001=2DW    -   : . . .    -   :1111 1111=256DW

A summary of at least a subset of example TLP transaction types, theircorresponding header formats, and a description is provided below, inTable IV:

TABLE IV TLP Type Summary FMT Type Et TLP Type [2:0] [3:0] [1:0]Description Initial FCP 000 0000 00 Initial flow control informationUpdate FCP 000 0001 00 Update flow control information MRd 001 1001 E19E18 Memory read request 010 Et/E1 field used for length [9:8] MRdLK 0011011 00 Memory read request - locked 010 MWR 101 0001 00 Memory Writerequest - posted 110 IORd 001 1010 00 IO Read request IOWr 101 1010 00IO Write request CfgRd0 001 1010 01 Configuration read type 0 CfgWr0 1011010 01 Configuration write type 0 CfgRd1 001 1010 11 Configuration readtype 1 CfgWr1 101 1010 11 Configuration write type 1 Msg 010 011s2 s1s0Message request - the sub-field s[2:0] specify a group of messages.According to one implementation, the message field is decoded todetermine specific cycle including if a completion is required MsgD 110001s2 s1s0 Message request with data - the sub-field s[2:0] specify agroup of messages. According to one implementation, the message field isdecoded to determine specific cycle including if a completion isrequired MsgCR 010 111s2 s1s0 Message request completion required - Thesub- fields s[2:0] specify a group of messages. According to oneimplementation, the message field is decoded to determine specific cycleMsgDCR 110 111s2 s1s0 Message request with data completion required -The sub-fields s[2:0] specify a group of messages. According to oneimplementation, the Special Cycle field is decided to determine specificcycle. CPL 001 0100 00 Completion without data - used for IO andconfiguration write completions, some message completions, and memoryread completions with completion status other than successfulcompletion. CplD 101 0100 00 Completion with data - used for memory, IO,and configration read completions, and some message completions. CplDLk101 001 01 Completion for locked memory read - otherwise like CplD

Additional detail regarding requests and completions is provided inAppendix A, the specification of which is hereby expressly incorporatedherein by reference.

Flow Control

One of the limitations commonly associated with conventional flowcontrol schemes is that they are reactive to problems that may occur,rather than proactively reducing the opportunity for such problems tooccur in the first place. In the conventional PCI system, for example, atransmitter will send information to a receiver until it receives amessage to halt/suspend transmission until further notice. Such requestsmay subsequently be followed by requests for retransmission of packetsstarting at a given point in the transmission. Moreover, insofar as suchflow control mechanisms are hardware based, they are not suitable forapplication to dynamically established, independent managed virtualchannels described above. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthis reactive approach results in wasted cycles and can, in this regard,be inefficient.

To address this limitation, the transaction layer 202 of the EGIOinterface 106 includes a flow control mechanism that proactively reducesthe opportunity for overflow conditions to arise, while also providingfor adherence to ordering rules on a per-link basis of the virtualchannel established between an initiator and completer(s).

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the concept of aflow control “credit” is introduced, wherein a receiver sharesinformation about (a) the size of the buffer (in credits), and (b) thecurrently available buffer space with a transmitter for each of thevirtual channel(s) established between the transmitter and the receiver(i.e., on a per-virtual channel basis). This enables the transactionlayer 202 of the transmitter to maintain an estimate of the availablebuffer space (e.g., a count of available credits) allocated fortransmission through an identified virtual channel, and proactivelythrottle its transmission through any of the virtual channels if itdetermines that transmission would cause an overflow condition in thereceive buffer.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the transactionlayer 202 selectively invokes flow control to prevent overflow of areceive buffer associated with a virtual channel and to enablecompliance with the ordering rules, introduced above. In accordance withone implementation, the flow control mechanism of the transaction layer202 is used by a transmitter to track the queue/buffer space availablein an agent (receiver) across the EGIO link 112. In this regard, unlikeconventional flow control mechanisms, the transmitter, not the receiver,is responsible for determining when the receiver is temporarily unableto receive more content via the virtual channel. As used herein, flowcontrol does not imply that a request has reached its ultimatecompleter.

Within the EGIO architecture, flow control is orthogonal to the dataintegrity mechanisms used to implement reliable information exchangebetween a transmitter and a receiver. That is, flow control can treatthe flow of transaction layer packet (TLP) information from transmitterto receiver as perfect, since the data integrity mechanisms (discussedbelow) ensure that corrupted and lost TLPs are corrected throughretransmission. As used herein, the flow control mechanism of thetransaction layer comprehends the virtual channels of the EGIO link 112.In this regard, each virtual channel supported by a receiver will bereflected in the flow control credits (FCC) advertised by the receiver.

According to one example implementation, flow control is performed bythe transaction layer 202 in cooperation with the data link layer 204.That is, flow control information is conveyed between two sides of anEGIO link 112 (e.g., on a per-VC basis) using data link layer packets(DLLP), for use by the flow control mechanism of the transaction layer202. For ease of illustration in describing the flow control mechanism,the following types of packet information, or flow control credit types,are distinguished:

(a) Posted Request Headers (PH)

(b) Posted Request Data (PD)

(c) Non-Posted Request Headers (NPH)

(d) Non-Posted Request Data (NPD)

(e) Read, Write and Message Completion Headers (CPLH)

(f) Read and Message Completion Data (CPLD)

As introduced above, the unit of measure in the EGIO implementation ofproactive flow control is a flow control credit (FCC). In accordancewith but one implementation, a flow control credit is sixteen (16) bytesfor data. For headers, the unit of flow control credit is one header. Asintroduced above, independent flow control is maintained for eachvirtual channel. Accordingly, separate indicators of credits aremaintained and tracked by the flow control mechanism within thetransaction layer 202 for each of the foregoing types of packetinformation ((a)-(f), as denoted above) on a per-VC basis. In accordancewith the illustrated example implementation, transmission of packetsconsume flow control credits in accordance with the following:

-   -   Memory/IO/Configuration Read Request: 1 NPH unit    -   Memory Write Request: 1PH+nPD units (where n is associated with        the size of the data payload, e.g., the length of the data        divided by the flow control unit size (e.g., 16 Bytes)    -   IO/Configuration Write Request: 1NPH+1NPD    -   Message Requests: Depending on the message at least 1PH and/or        1NPH unit(s)    -   Completions with Data: 1CPLH+nCPLD units (where n is related to        size of data divided by the flow control data unit size, e.g.,        16 Bytes)    -   Completions without Data: 1CPLH

For each type of information tracked, there are three conceptualregisters, each eight (8) bits wide, to monitor the Credits Consumed (intransmitter), a Credit Limit (in transmitter) and a Credits Allocated(in the receiver). The credits consumed register includes a count of thetotal number of flow control units, e.g., in modula-256, consumed sinceinitialization. Having introduced the architectural elements of the flowcontrol mechanism, an example method of initialization and operation ispresented with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an example method of operation of the flowcontrol mechanism of the EGIO architecture, in accordance with but oneexample embodiment of the invention. In accordance with the illustratedexample implementation of FIG. 6, the method begins with block 602wherein the flow control mechanism described herein associated with atleast an initial virtual channel is initialized upon hardwareinitialization, or reset. According to one example implementation, theflow control mechanism associated with VC0 (e.g., the default virtualchannel for bulk communication) is initialized when the data link layer204 of the EGIO interface 106 of an EGIO element is initialized.

In block 604, the flow control mechanism of the transaction layer 202updates the parameters of the one or more flow control registers. Thatis, upon initialization the credits consumed register is set to allzeros (0) and incremented as the transaction layer commits to sendinginformation to the data link layer. The size of the increment isassociated with the number of credits consumed by the informationcommitted to be sent. According to one implementation, when the maximumcount (e.g., all 1's) is reached or exceeded, the counter rolls over tozero. According to one implementation, unsigned 8-bit modulo arithmeticis used to maintain the counter.

The credit limit register, maintained in the transmitter, contains thelimit for the maximum number of flow control units that may be consumed.Upon interface initialization (e.g., start-up, reset, etc.), the creditlimit register is set to all zeros, and is subsequently updated toreflect the value indicated in a flow control update message (introducedabove) upon message receipt.

The credits allocated register, maintained in the receiver, maintains acount of the total number of credits granted to the transmitter sinceinitialization. The count is initially set according to the buffer sizeand allocation policies of the receiver. This value may well be includedin flow control update messages.

In block 606, the EGIO interface 106 determines whether additionalvirtual channels are required, i.e., beyond the default VC0. If so, assuch additional VC's are established, the transaction layer initializesthe flow control mechanism associated with such VC's, updating the flowcontrol register(s) accordingly, block 608.

As above, when initializing the flow control mechanism associated with avirtual channel, the value is incremented as the receiver transactionlayer removes processed information from its receive buffer. The size ofthe increment is associated with the size of the space made available.According to one embodiment, receivers should typically initially setthe credits allocated to values equal to or greater than the followingvalues:

-   -   PH: 1 flow control unit (FCU);    -   PD: FCU equal to the largest possible setting of the maximum        payload size of the device;    -   NPH: 1 FCU    -   NPD: FCU equal to the largest possible setting of the maximum        payload size of the device;    -   Switch devices—CPLH: 1FCU;    -   Switch devices—CPLD: FCU equal to the largest possible setting        of the maximum payload size of the device, or the largest read        request the device will ever generate, whichever is smaller;    -   Root & End-point Devices—CPLH or CPLD: 255 FCUs (all 1's), a        value considered to be infinite by the transmitter, which will        therefore never throttle.        In accordance with such an implementation, a receiver will        typically not set credits allocated register values to greater        than 127 FCUs for any message type.

In accordance with an alternate implementation, rather than maintainingthe credits allocated register using the counter method, above, areceiver (or, transmitter) can dynamically calculate the creditsavailable in accordance with the following equation:C _(—) A=(Credit unit number of the most recently receivedtransmission)+(receive buffer space available)  [7]

As introduced above, a transmitter will implement the conceptualregisters (credit consumed, credit limit) for each of the virtualchannels that the transmitter will utilize. Similarly, receiversimplement the conceptual registers (credits allocated) for each of thevirtual channels supported by the receiver. Once the flow controlregister(s) are established for the appropriate VC's, the EGIO interface106 is ready to participate in EGIO communication as the processcontinues with block 610.

In block 610, the EGIO interface 106 in a transmitter receives adatagram for transmission along a VC. In block 612, prior totransmission of the received datagram, the flow control mechanism in thetransaction layer 202 of the EGIO element to transmit the datagramacross the EGIO link confirms that such transmission will not result inan overflow condition at the receiver. According to one exampleimplementation, the flow control mechanism of the transaction layer 202makes this determination based, at least in part, on the creditsavailable register and the number of credits to be consumed by thetransmission of the datagram.

To proactively inhibit the transmission of information if to do so wouldcause receive buffer overflow, a transmitter is permitted to transmit atype of information if the credits consumed count plus the number ofcredit units associated with the data to be transmitted is less than orequal to the credit limit value, i.e.,Cred_Req=(Cred_Consumed+<Info_cred>)mod 2^([field size])  [8]where the field size is eight (8) for PH, NPH, CLPH, and twelve (12) forPD, NPD and CPLD.

When a transmitter receives flow control information for completions(CPLs) indicating non-infinite credits (i.e., <255 FCUs), thetransmitter will throttle completions according to the credit available.When accounting for credit use and return, information from differenttransactions is not mixed within a credit. Similarly, when accountingfor credit use and return, header and data information from onetransaction is never mixed within one credit. Thus, when some packet isblocked from transmission by a lack of flow control credit(s),transmitters will follow the ordering rules (above) when determiningwhat types of packets should be permitted to bypass the “stalled”packet.

If, in block 612 the flow control mechanism determines that the receiverdoes not have adequate buffer space to receive the datagram, the flowcontrol mechanism temporarily suspends transmission along the associatedvirtual channel until the flow control register(s) in the transmitterare updated to permit such transmission, block 614. According to oneexample embodiment, updates are received through a flow control updatemessage, described more fully below.

If, in block 612, the flow control mechanism concludes that transmissionof the datagram will not result in an overflow condition at thereceiver, the EGIO interface 106 proceeds to transmit the datagram,block 616. As introduced above, transmission of the datagram involvesprocessing steps (e.g., addition of headers, data integrity informationetc.) at the transaction layer 202, data link layer 204 and/or physicallayer 206.

According to one embodiment, in response to receipt of a datagram via avirtual channel, the flow control mechanism in the receiver will issue aflow control update. Such an update may be in the form of a header in anacknowledgement packet, etc. In such an embodiment, the return of flowcontrol credits for a transaction is not interpreted to mean that thetransaction has completed or achieved system visibility. Messagesignaled interrupts (MSI) using a memory write request semantic aretreated like any other memory write. If a subsequent FC Update Message(from the receiver) indicates a lower credit_limit value than wasinitially indicated, the transmitter should respect the new lower limitand may well provide a messaging error.

In accordance with the flow control mechanism described herein, if areceiver receives more information than it has allocated credits for(exceeding the credits allocated) the receiver will indicate a receiveroverflow error to the offending transmitter, and initiate a data linklevel retry request for the packet causing the overflow.

In block 618, upon receipt of flow control update information, the flowcontrol mechanism associated with the particular virtual channel in thetransmitter updates the flow control register(s) accordingly tofacilitate subsequent flow control.

Having introduced the architectural elements and example operationaldetail above, an example protocol for communicating flow controlinformation is presented. According to one example embodiment, flowcontrol information is communicated at the data link layer 204 usingflow control packets.

Flow Control Packets (FCPs)

According to one implementation, the flow control information necessaryto maintain the registers, above, is communicated between devices usingflow control packets (FCPs). An example flow control packet isgraphically presented with reference to FIG. 9. According to oneembodiment, flow control packets 900 are comprised of two-DW Headerformat and convey information for a specific Virtual Channel about thestatus of the six Credit registers maintained by the Flow Control logicof the Receive Transaction Layer for each VC.

In accordance with one embodiment of the teachings of the presentinvention there are two types of FCPs: Initial FCP and Update FCP, asillustrated in FIG. 9. As introduced above, an Initial FCP 902 is issuedupon initialization of the Transaction Layer. Following initializationof the Transaction Layer, Update FCPs 904 are used to update informationin the registers.

Receipt of an Initial FCP 902 during normal operation causes a reset ofthe local flow control mechanism and the transmission of an Initial FCP902. The content of an Initial FCP 902 includes at least a subset of theadvertised credits for each of the PH, PD, NPH, NPD, CPHL, CPHD, andChannel ID (e.g., the Virtual channel associated to which FC informationapplies).

The format of an Update FCP 904 is similar to that of the Initial FCP902. Note that although the FC Header does not include the Length fieldcommon other transaction layer packet header format, the size of thePacket is unambiguous because there is no additional DW data associatedwith this Packet.

Error Forwarding

Unlike conventional error forwarding mechanisms, the EGIO architecturerelies on tailer information, appended to datagram(s) identified asdefective for any of a number of reasons, as discussed below. Accordingto one example implementation, the transaction layer 202 employs any ofa number of well-known error detection techniques such as, for example,cyclical redundancy check (CRC) error control and the like.

According to one implementation, to facilitate error forwardingfeatures, the EGIO architecture uses a “tailer”, which is appended toTLPs carrying known bad data. Examples of cases in which tailer ErrorForwarding might be used include:

EXAMPLE #1

-   -   A read from main memory encounters uncorrectable ECC error

EXAMPLE #2

-   -   Parity error on a PCI write to main memory

EXAMPLE #3

-   -   Data integrity error on an internal data buffer or cache.

According to one example implementation, error forwarding is only usedfor read completion data, or the write data. That is, error forwardingis not typically employed for cases when the error occurs in theadministrative overhead associated with the datagram, e.g., an error inthe header (e.g., request phase, address/command, etc.). As used herein,requests/completions with header errors cannot be forwarded in generalsince a true destination cannot be positively identified and, therefore,such error forwarding may well cause a direct or side effects such as,fore example data corruption, system failures, etc. According to oneembodiment, error forwarding is used for propagation of error throughthe system, system diagnostics. Error forwarding does not utilize datalink layer retry and, thus TLPs ending with the tailer will be retriedonly if there are transmission errors on the EGIO link 112 as determinedby the TLP error detection mechanisms (e.g., cyclical redundancy check(CRC), etc.). Thus, the tailer may ultimately cause the originator ofthe request to re-issue it (at the transaction layer of above) or totake some other action.

As used herein, all EGIO receivers (e.g., located within the EGIOinterface 106) are able to process TLPs ending with a tailer. Supportfor adding a tailer in a transmitter is optional (and thereforecompatible with legacy devices). Switches 108 route a tailer along withthe rest of a TLP. Host Bridges 104 with peer routing support willtypically route a tailer along with the rest of a TLP, but are notrequired to do so. Error Forwarding typically applies to the data withina Write Request (Posted or Non-Posted) or a Read Completion. TLPs whichare known to the transmitter to include bad data should end with thetailer.

According to one example implementation, a tailer consists of two DW,wherein bytes [7:5] are all zeroes (e.g., 000), and bits [4:1] are allones (e.g., 1111), while all other bits are reserved. An EGIO receiverwill consider all the data within a TLP ending with the tailer corrupt.If applying error forwarding, the receiver will cause all data from theindicated TLP to be tagged as bad (“poisoned”). Within the transactionlayer, a parser will typically parse to the end of the entire TLP andcheck immediately the following data to understand if the data completedor not.

Data Link Layer 204

As introduced above, the data link layer 204 of FIG. 2 acts as anintermediate stage between the Transaction Layer 202 and the PhysicalLayer 206. The primary responsibility of the data link layer 204 isproviding a reliable mechanism for exchanging Transaction Layer Packets(TLPs) between two components over an EGIO Link 112. The transmissionside of the Data Link Layer 204 accepts TLPs assembled by theTransaction Layer 202, applies a Packet Sequence Identifier (e.g., anidentification number), calculates and applies an error detection code(e.g., CRC code), and submits the modified TLPs to the Physical Layer206 for transmission across a select one or more of the virtual channelsestablished within the bandwidth of the EGIO Link 112.

The receiving Data Link Layer 204 is responsible for checking theintegrity of received TLPs (e.g., using CRC mechanisms, etc.) and forsubmitting those TLPs for which the integrity check was positive to theTransaction Layer 204 for disassembly before forwarding to the devicecore. Services provided by the Data Link Layer 204 generally includedata exchange, error detection and retry, initialization and powermanagement services, and data link layer inter-communication services.Each of the services offered under each of the foregoing categories areenumerated below.

Data Exchange Services

-   -   Accept TLPs for transmission from the Transmit Transaction Layer        -   i. Accept TLPs received over the Link from the Physical            Layer and convey them to the Receive Transaction Layer

Error Detection & Retry

-   -   TLP Sequence Number and CRC generation    -   Transmitted TLP storage for Data Link Layer Retry    -   Data integrity checking    -   Acknowledgement and Retry DLLPs    -   Error indications for error reporting and logging mechanisms        -   i. Link Ack Timeout timer

Initialization and Power Management Services

-   -   Track Link state and convey active/reset/disconnected state to        Transaction Layer

Data Link Layer Inter-Communication Services

-   -   Used for Link Management functions including error detection and        retry    -   Transferred between Data Link Layers of the two directly        connected components    -   Not exposed to the Transaction Layers

As used within the EGIO interface 106, the Data Link Layer 204 appearsas an information conduit with varying latency to the Transaction Layer202. All information fed into the Transmit Data Link Layer will appearat the output of the Receive Data Link Layer at a later time. Thelatency will depend on a number of factors, including pipelinelatencies, width and operational frequency of the Link 112, transmissionof communication signals across the medium, and delays caused by DataLink Layer Retry. Because of these delays, the Transmit Data Link Layercan apply backpressure to the Transmit Transaction Layer 202, and theReceive Data Link Layer communicates the presence or absence of validinformation to the Receive Transaction Layer 202.

According to one implementation, the data link layer 204 tracks thestate of the EGIO link 112. In this regard, the DLL 204 communicatesLink status with the Transaction 202 and Physical Layers 206, andperforms Link Management through the Physical Layer 206. According toone implementation, the Data Link Layer contains a Link Control andManagement State Machine to perform such management tasks, an example ofwhich is graphically illustrated with reference to FIG. 11. Inaccordance with the example implementation of FIG. 11, the states 1100of the link control and management state machine are defined as:

Example DLL Link States

-   -   LinkDown (LD)—Physical Layer reporting Link is non-operational        or Port is not connected    -   LinkInit (LI)—Physical Layer reporting Link is operational and        is being initialized    -   LinkActive (LA)—Normal operation mode    -   LinkActDefer (LAD)—Normal operation disrupted, Physical Layer        attempting to resume        Corresponding Management Rules per state:    -   LinkDown (LD)        -   Initial state following Component reset        -   Upon entry to LD:        -   Reset all Data Link Layer state information to default            values        -   While in LD:        -   Do not exchange TLP information with the Transaction or            Physical Layers        -   Do not exchange DLLP information with the Physical Layer        -   Do not generate or accept DLLPs        -   Exit to LI if:        -   Indication from the Transaction Layer that the Link is not            disabled by SW    -   LinkInit (LI)        -   While in LI:        -   Do not exchange TLP information with the Transaction or            Physical Layers        -   Do not exchange DLLP information with the Physical Layer        -   Do not generate or accept DLLPs        -   Exit to LA if:        -   Indication from the Physical Layer that the Link training            succeeded Exit to LD if:        -   Indication from the Physical Layer that the Link training            failed    -   LinkActive (LA)        -   While in LinkActive:        -   Exchange TLP information with the Transaction and Physical            Layers        -   Exchange DLLP information with the Physical Layer        -   Generate and accept DLLPs.    -   Exit to LinkActDefer if:        -   Indication from the Data Link Layer Retry management            mechanism that Link retraining is required, OR if Physical            Layer reports that a retrain is in progress.    -   LinkActDefer (LAD)        -   While in LinkActDefer:            -   Do not exchange TLP information with the Transaction or                Physical Layers            -   Do not exchange DLLP information with the Physical Layer            -   Do not generate or accept DLLPs        -   Exit to LinkActive if:    -   Indication from the Physical Layer that the retraining was        successful        -   Exit to LinkDown if:    -   Indication from the Physical Layer that the retraining failed        Data Integrity Management

As used herein, data link layer packets (DLLPs) are used to support theEGIO link data integrity mechanisms. In this regard, according to oneimplementation, the EGIO architecture provides for the following DLLPsto support link data integrity management:

-   -   Ack DLLP: TLP Sequence number acknowledgement—used to indicate        successful receipt of some number of TLPs    -   Nak DLLP: TLP Sequence number negative acknowledgement—used to        indicate a Data Link Layer Retry    -   Ack Timeout DLLP: Indicates recently transmitted Sequence        Number—used to detect some forms of TLP loss

As introduced above, the transaction layer 202 provides TLP boundaryinformation to Data Link Layer 204, enabling the DLL 204 to apply aSequence Number and cyclical redundancy check (CRC) error detection tothe TLP. According to one example implementation, the Receive Data LinkLayer validates received TLPs by checking the Sequence Number, CRC codeand any error indications from the receive Physical Layer. In case oferror in a TLP, Data Link Layer Retry is used for recovery.

CRC, Sequence Number, and Retry Management (Transmitter)

The mechanisms used to determine the TLP CRC and the Sequence Number andto support Data Link Layer Retry are described in terms of conceptual“counters” and “flags”, as follows:

CRC and Sequence Number Rules (Transmitter)

-   -   The following 8 bit counters are used:        -   TRANS_SEQ—Stores the sequence number applied to TLPs being            prepared for transmission            -   Set to all ‘0’s in LinkDown state            -   Incremented by 1 after each TLP transmitted            -   When at all ‘1’s the increment causes a roll-over to all                ‘0’s                -   Receipt of a Nak DLLP causes the value to be set                    back to the sequence number indicated in the Nak                    DLLP            -   ACKD_SEQ—Stores the sequence number acknowledged in the                most recently received Link to Link Acknowledgement                DLLP.            -   Set to all ‘1’s in LinkDown state    -   Each TLP is assigned an 8 bit sequence number        -   The counter TRANS_SEQ stores this number        -   If TRANS_SEQ equals (ACKD_SEQ−1) modulo 256, the Transmitter            should typically not transmit another TLP until an Ack DLLP            updates ACKD_SEQ such that the condition            (TRANS_SEQ==ACKD_SEQ−1) modulo 256 is no longer true.    -   TRANS_SEQ is applied to the TLP by:        -   prepending the single Byte value to the TLP        -   prepending a single Reserved Byte to the TLP    -   A 32 b CRC is calculated for the TLP using the following        algorithm and appended to the end of the TLP        -   The polynomial used is 0x04C11DB7            -   the same CRC-32 used by Ethernet        -   The procedure for the calculation is:        -   1) The initial value of the CRC-32 calculation is the DW            formed by prepending 24 ‘0’s to the Sequence Number        -   2) The CRC calculation is continued using each DW of the TLP            from the Transaction Layer in order from the DW including            Byte 0 of the Header to the last DW of the TLP        -   3) The bit sequence from the calculation is complemented and            the result is the TLP CRC        -   4) The CRC DW is appended to the end of the TLP    -   Copies of Transmitted TLPs should typically be stored in the        Data Link Layer Retry Buffer    -   When an Ack DLLP is received from the other Device:        -   ACKD_SEQ is loaded with the value specified in the DLLP        -   The Retry Buffer is purged of TLPs with Sequence Numbers in            the range:            -   From the previous value of ACKD_SEQ+1            -   To the new value of ACKD_SEQ    -   When a Nak DLLP is received from the other Component on the        Link:        -   If a TLP is currently being transferred to the Physical            Layer, the transfer continues until the transfer of this TLP            is complete        -   Additional TLPs are not taken from the Transaction Layer            until the following steps are complete        -   The Retry Buffer is purged of TLPs with Sequence Numbers in            the range:            -   The previous value of ACKD_SEQ+1            -   The value specified in the Nak Sequence Number field of                the Nak DLLP        -   All remaining TLPs in the Retry Buffer are re-presented to            the Physical Layer for re-transmission in the original order            -   Note: This will include all TLPs with Sequence Numbers                in the range:        -   The value specified in the Nak Sequence Number field of the            Nak DLLP+1        -   The value of TRANS_SEQ−1            -   If there are no remaining TLPs in the Retry Buffer, the                Nak DLLP was in error        -   The erroneous Nak DLLP should typically be reported            according to the Error Tracking and Logging Section        -   No further action is required by the Transmitter            CRC and Sequence Number (Receiver)

Similarly, the mechanisms used to check the TLP CRC and the SequenceNumber and to support Data Link Layer Retry are described in terms ofconceptual “counters” and “flags” as follows:

-   -   The following 8 bit counter is used:        -   NEXT_RCV_SEQ—Stores the expected Sequence Number for the            next TLP            -   Set to all ‘0’s in LinkDown state            -   Incremented by 1 for each TLP accepted, or when the                DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag (described below) is cleared by                accepting a TLP            -   Loaded with the value (Trans. Seq. Num+1) each time a                Link Layer DLLP is received and the DLLR_IN_PROGRESS                flag is clear.        -   A loss of Sequence Number synchronization between            Transmitter and Receiver is indicated if the value of            NEXT_RCV_SEQ differs from the value specified by a received            TLP or an Ack Timeout DLLP; in this case:    -   If the DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag is set,        -   Reset DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag        -   Signal a “Sent Bad DLLR DLLP” error to Error            Logging/Tracking        -   Note: This indicates that a DLLR DLLP (Nak) was sent in            error    -   If the DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag is not set,        -   Set DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag and initiate Nak DLLP        -   Note: This indicates that a TLP was lost    -   The following 3 bit counter is used:        -   DLLRR_COUNT—Counts number of times DLLR DLLP issued in a            specified time period    -   Set to b'000 in LinkDown state    -   Incremented by 1 for each Nak DLLP issued    -   When the count reaches b'100:        -   The Link Control State Machine moves from LinkActive to            LinkActDefer        -   DLLRR_COUNT is then reset to b'000    -   If DLLRR_COUNT not equal to b'000, decrements by 1 every 256        Symbol Times        -   i.e.: Saturates at b'000    -   The following flag is used:        -   DLLR_IN_PROGRESS    -   Set/Clear conditions are described below    -   When DLLR_IN_PROGRESS is set, all received TLPs are rejected        (until the TLP indicated by the DLLR DLLP is received)    -   When DLLR_IN_PROGRESS is clear, Received TLPs are checked as        described below    -   For a TLP to be accepted, the following conditions should        typically be true:        -   The Received TLP Sequence Number is equal to NEXT_RCV_SEQ        -   The Physical Layer has not indicated any errors in Receipt            of the TLP        -   The TLP CRC check does not indicate an error    -   When a TLP is accepted:        -   The Transaction Layer part of the TLP is forwarded to the            Receive Transaction Layer        -   If set, the DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag is cleared        -   NEXT_RCV_SEQ is incremented    -   When a TLP is not accepted:        -   The DLLR_IN_PROGRESS flag is set        -   A Nak DLLP is sent    -   The Ack/Nak Sequence Number field should typically contain the        value (NEXT_RCV_SEQ −1)    -   The Nak Type (NT) field should typically indicate the cause of        the Nak:        -   b'00—Receive Error identified by Physical Layer        -   b'01—TLP CRC check failed        -   b'10—Sequence Number incorrect        -   b'11—Framing Error identified by the Physical Layer    -   The Receiver should typically not allow the time from the        receipt of the CRC for a TLP to Transmission of Nak to exceed        1023 Symbol Times, as measured from the Port of the component.        -   Note: NEXT_RCV_SEQ is not incremented    -   If the Receive Data Link Layer fails to receive the expected TLP        following a Nak DLLP within 512 Symbol Times, the Nak DLLP is        repeated.        -   If after four attempts the expected TLP has still not been            received, the receiver will:            -   Enter the LinkActDefer state and initiate Link                retraining by the Physical Layer            -   Indicate the occurrence of a major error to Error                Tracking and Logging    -   Data Link Layer Acknowledgement DLLPs should typically be        Transmitted when the following conditions are true:        -   The Data Link Control and Management State Machine is in the            LinkActive state        -   TLPs have been accepted, but not yet acknowledged by sending            an Acknowledgement DLLP        -   More than 512 Symbol Times have passed since the last            Acknowledgement DLLP    -   Data Link Layer Acknowledgement DLLPs may be Transmitted more        frequently than required    -   Data Link Layer Acknowledgement DLLPs specify the value        (NEXT_RCV_SEQ−1) in the Ack Sequence Num field        Ack Timeout Mechanism

Consider the case where a TLP is corrupted on the Link 112 such that theReceiver does not detect the existence of the TLP. The lost TLP will bedetected when a following TLP is sent because the TLP Sequence Numberwill not match the expected Sequence Number at the Receiver. However,the Transmit Data Link Layer 204 cannot in general bound the time forthe next TLP to be presented to it from the Transmit Transport Layer.The Ack Timeout mechanism allows the Transmitter to bound the timerequired for the Receiver to detect the lost TLP.

Ack Timeout Mechanism Rules

-   -   If the Transmit Retry Buffer contains TLPs for which no Ack DLLP        have been received, and if no TLPs or Link DLLPs have been        transmitted for a period exceeding 1024 Symbol Times, an Ack        Timeout DLLP should typically be transmitted.    -   Following the Transmission of an Ack Timeout DLLP, the Data Link        Layer should typically not pass any TLPs to the Physical Layer        for Transmission until an Acknowledgement DLLP has been received        from the Component on the other side of the Link.        -   If no Acknowledgement DLLP is received for a period            exceeding 1023 Symbol Times, the Ack Timeout DLLP is            Transmitted again 1024 Symbol Times after the fourth            successive transmission of an Ack Timeout DLLP without            receipt of an Acknowledgement DLLP, Enter the LinkActDefer            state and initiate Link retraining by the Physical Layer    -   Indicate the occurrence of a major error to Error Tracking and        Logging.

Having introduced the architectural and protocol elements of the dataintegrity mechanism of the data link layer 204, above, reference is madeto FIG. 7, wherein an example implementation of the data integritymechanism is presented according to one example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example method for monitoring dataintegrity within the EGIO architecture, according to one exampleembodiment of the invention. In accordance with the illustrated exampleimplementation of FIG. 7, the method begins with block 702 wherein adatagram is received via a virtual channel at an EGIO interface 106 ofan EGIO element. As presented above, the datagram is received via thephysical link layer 206 before promotion to the data link layer 204.According to certain embodiments, the physical layer 206 determineswhether the received datagram conforms with packet framing requirements,etc. In certain embodiments, a datagram that fails to meet such framingrequirements is discarded without promotion to or analysis by the dataintegrity mechanism of the data link layer 204. If the framing isconfirmed, the physical layer strips the framing boundaries from thedatagram to reveal a data link layer packet, which is promoted to thedata link layer.

In block 704, upon receipt of the datagram from the physical layer 206,the integrity of the data link layer packet is confirmed within the datalink layer 204. As presented above, the data integrity mechanism of thedata link layer 204 employs one or more of the sequence number, CRCinformation, etc. to confirm that the information within the DLLPincluding, inter alia, the TLLP, is accurate.

If, in block 704, the data link layer 204 identifies a flaw in theintegrity of the received DLLP, the data link layer 204 invokes aninstance of the error processing mechanism described above.

If, in block 704, the data link layer 204 confirms the integrity of thereceived DLLP, at least a subset of the received DLLP is promoted to thetransaction layer 202, block 708. According to one exampleimplementation, the data link layer-specific information (e.g., header,footer, etc.) is stripped to reveal a TLLP, which is passed to thetransaction layer for further processing.

Physical Layer 206

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the physical layer 206 is presented.As used herein, the physical layer 206 isolates the transaction 202 anddata link 204 layers from the signaling technology used for link datainterchange. In accordance with the illustrated example implementationof FIG. 2, the Physical Layer is divided into the logical 208 andphysical 210 functional sub-blocks.

As used herein, the logical sub-block 208 is responsible for the“digital” functions of the Physical Layer 206. In this regard, thelogical sub-block 204 has two main divisions: a Transmit section thatprepares outgoing information for transmission by the physical sub-block210, and a Receiver section that identifies and prepares receivedinformation before passing it to the Link Layer 204. The logicalsub-block 208 and physical sub-block 210 coordinate the Port statethrough a status and control register interface. Control and managementfunctions of the Physical Layer 206 are directed by the logicalsub-block 208.

According to one example implementation, the EGIO architecture employsan 8 b/10 b transmission code. Using this scheme, eight-bit charactersare treated as three-bits and five-bits mapped onto a four-bit codegroup and a six-bit code group, respectively. These code groups areconcatenated to form a ten-bit Symbol. The 8 b/10 b encoding scheme usedby EGIO architecture provides Special Symbols which are distinct fromthe Data Symbols used to represent Characters. These Special Symbols areused for various Link Management mechanisms below. Special Symbols arealso used to frame DLLPs and TLPs, using distinct Special Symbols toallow these two types of Packets to be quickly and easily distinguished.

The physical sub-block 210 contains a Transmitter and a Receiver. TheTransmitter is supplied by the Logical sub-block 208 with Symbols whichit serializes and transmits onto the Link 112. The Receiver is suppliedwith serialized Symbols from the Link 112. It transforms the receivedsignals into a bit-stream which is de-serialized and supplied to theLogical sub-block 208 along with a Symbol clock recovered from theincoming serial stream. It will be appreciated that, as used herein, theEGIO link 112 may well represent any of a wide variety of communicationmedia including an electrical communication link, an opticalcommunication link, an RF communication link, an infrared communicationlink, a wireless communication link, and the like. In this respect, eachof the transmitter(s) and/or receiver(s) comprising the physicalsub-block 210 of the physical layer 206 is appropriate for one or moreof the foregoing communication links.

Example Communication Agent

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example communication agentincorporating at least a subset of the features associated with thepresent invention, in accordance with one example implementation of thepresent invention. In accordance with the illustrated exampleimplementation of FIG. 8, communications agent 800 is depictedcomprising control logic 802, an EGIO communication engine 804, memoryspace for data structures 806 and, optionally one or more applications808.

As used herein, control logic 802 provides processing resources to eachof the one or more elements of EGIO communication engine 604 toselectively implement one or more aspects of the present invention. Inthis regard, control logic 802 is intended to represent one or more of amicroprocessor, a microcontroller, a finite state machine, aprogrammable logic device, a field programmable gate array, or contentwhich, when executed, implements control logic to function as one of theabove.

EGIO communication engine 804 is depicted comprising one or more of atransaction layer interface 202, a data link layer interface 204 and aphysical layer interface 206 comprising a logical sub-block 208 and aphysical sub-block 210 to interface the communication agent 800 with anEGIO link 112. As used herein, the elements of EGIO communication engine804 perform function similar, if not equivalent to, those describedabove.

In accordance with the illustrated example implementation of FIG. 8,communications agent 800 is depicted comprising data structures 806. Aswill be developed more fully below with reference to FIG. 10, datastructures 806 may well include memory space, IO space, configurationspace and message space utilized by communication engine 804 tofacilitate communication between elements of the EGIO architecture.

As used herein, applications 808 are intended to represent any of a widevariety of applications selectively invoked by communication engine 800to implement the EGIO communication protocol and associated managementfunctions. According to one example implementation, the bandwidthmanager, flow control mechanism, data integrity mechanism, and supportfor legacy interrupts are embodied as executable content withincommunications agent 800 selectively invoked by one or more of theappropriate elements of the EGIO communication engine 804.

Example Data Structure(s)

Turning to FIG. 10 a graphical illustration of one or more datastructure(s) employed by EGIO interface(s) 106 are depicted, inaccordance with one implementation of the present invention. Moreparticularly, with reference to the illustrated example implementationof FIG. 10, four (4) address spaces are defined for use within the EGIOarchitecture: the configuration space 1010, the IO space 1020, thememory space 1030 and the message space 1040. As shown, configurationspace 1010 includes a header field 1012, which includes informationdefining the EGIO category to which a host device belongs (e.g.,end-point, switch, root complex, etc.). Each of such address spacesperform their respective functions as detailed above.

Alternate Embodiments

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a storage medium having stored thereon aplurality of instructions including instructions to implement one ormore aspects of the EGIO interconnection architecture and communicationprotocol, according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

In general, FIG. 12 illustrates a machine accessible medium/device 1200having content 1202 stored thereon(in) including at least a subset ofwhich that, when executed by an accessing machine, implement theinnovative EGIO interface 106 of the present invention. As used herein,machine accessible medium 1200 is intended to represent any of a numberof such media known to those skilled in the art such as, for example,volatile memory devices, non-volatile memory devices, magnetic storagemedia, optical storage media, propagated signals and the like.Similarly, the executable instructions are intended to reflect any of anumber of software languages known in the art such as, for example, C++,Visual Basic, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Java, eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML), and the like. Moreover, it is to be appreciated that themedium 1200 need not be co-located with any host system. That is, medium1200 may well reside within a remote server communicatively coupled toand accessible by an executing system. Accordingly, the softwareimplementation of FIG. 12 is to be regarded as illustrative, asalternate storage media and software embodiments are anticipated withinthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

Although the invention has been described in the detailed description aswell as in the Abstract in language specific to structural featuresand/or methodological steps, it is to be understood that the inventiondefined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to thespecific features or steps described. Rather, the specific features andsteps are merely disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing theclaimed invention. It will, however, be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the present invention. The presentspecification and figures are accordingly to be regarded as illustrativerather than restrictive. The description and abstract are not intendedto be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise formsdisclosed.

The terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limitthe invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in thespecification. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determinedentirely by the following claims, which are to be construed inaccordance with the established doctrines of claim interpretation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: initializing a flow controlmechanism within a general input/output interface of a transmittingdevice associated with a virtual channel upon initialization of thevirtual channel; and tracking buffer availability in a remote receivingdevice having a general input/output interface coupled with the generalinput/output interface of the transmitting device via the virtualchannel by monitoring an indication associated with an amount of contenttransmitted from the general input/output interface of the transmittingdevice to the remote general input/output interface of the receivingdevice; selectively suspending transmission to the remote generalinput/output interface of the receiving device through the virtualchannel when the general input/output interface of the transmittingdevice determines that the receive buffer availability has reached athreshold; and, determining according to ordering rules what types ofpackets should be permitted to bypass a packet not yet transmitted.
 2. Amethod according to claim 1, further comprising: tagging transactions byadding a transaction descriptor to a packet including an orderingattribute including the type of ordering.
 3. A method according to claim2, wherein the threshold is set to prevent a buffer overflow condition.4. A method according to claim 2, further comprising: resumingtransmission of content through the virtual channel when the GIOinterface of the transmitting device receives an indication from theremote GIO interface of the receiving device of receive bufferavailability.
 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the receivedindication is an update flow control packet.
 6. A method according toclaim 2, further comprising: resuming transmission of content throughthe virtual channel after a period of time has lapsed.
 7. A methodaccording to claim 1, the element of initializing the flow controlmechanism comprising: receiving an indication from the remote GIOinterface of the receiving device of a number of credits allocated totransmission to the remote GIO from the transmitting device, wherein acredit is associated with an amount of content.
 8. A method according toclaim 7, the element of initializing further comprising: establishingone or more of a credit consumed buffer and a credit limit buffer in theGIO interface of the transmitting device, wherein the credit limitbuffer is populated with an indication of credits allocated by theremote GIO interface of the receiving device.
 9. A method according toclaim 7, further comprising: determining a number of credits to beconsumed by a prospective transmission of content from the GIO interfaceof the transmitting device to the remote GIO interface of the receivingdevice; and selectively transmitting the content to the remote GIOinterface of the receiving device if when added to the credit consumedbuffer by the transmitting device, the determined number of credits tobe consumed by the prospective transmission does not exceed indicationof credits allocated in the credit limit buffer.
 10. A method accordingto claim 9, further comprising: updating the credits consumed bufferwith the transmitting device with an indication of the credits consumedby a transmission if the transmission is effected.
 11. A methodaccording to claim 9, further comprising: suspending transmission of thecontent if it is determined by the transmitting device that the creditsto be consumed by the prospective transmission would send the creditsconsumed buffer over that permitted by the credit limit buffer.
 12. Amethod according to claim 11, further comprising: receiving anindication from the remote GIO interface denoting a credit availability.13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising: updating thecredit consumed register in the GIO interface of the transmitting deviceto reflect the credit availability denoted in the received indicationfrom the remote GIO interface.
 14. A general input/output interface in atransmitting device, comprising: a physical layer to couple the generalinput/output interface to a general input/output interface communicationlink; and a transaction layer coupled with the physical layer through adata link layer, the transaction layer including a flow controlmechanism dynamically established upon initialization of a virtualchannel between the general input/output interface and a remote generalinput/output interface of a receiving device, to monitor an ability ofthe remote general input/output interface to receive transmissions fromthe general input/output interface, and to suspend further transmissionsif it is determined that further transmission would result in anoverflow condition at the remote general input/output interface in thereceiving device, and where, the transmitting device determinesaccording to ordering rules what types of packets should be permitted tobypass a packet not yet transmitted.
 15. A general input/outputinterface according to claim 14, wherein the transaction layer tagstransactions by adding a transaction descriptor to a packet including anordering attribute including the type of ordering.
 16. A GIO interfaceaccording to claim 15, wherein suspension of transmission in any one ofa plurality of virtual channels does not affect transmission on anyother established virtual channels.
 17. A GIO interface according toclaim 16, the flow control mechanism further comprising: a credit limitbuffer, populated with a value received from the remote GIO interfacedenoting a number of flow control credits allocated to the virtualchannel during initialization of the virtual channel.
 18. A GIOinterface according to claim 17, the flow control mechanism furthercomprising: a credits consumed buffer, to maintain a value associatedwith an amount of content transmitted to the remote GIO interface.
 19. AGIO interface according to claim 18, wherein the flow control mechanismof the transmitting device determines whether the remote GIO interfaceof the receiving device can receive a prospective transmission ofcontent by adding flow control credits to be consumed by the prospectivetransmission to the credits consumed buffer to identify whether theprospective transmission would cause the credits consumed buffer toexceed a threshold associate with the credit limit buffer.
 20. A GIOinterface according to claim 18, wherein the flow control mechanismsuspends further transmission along a virtual channel if the creditsconsumed buffer reaches the threshold associated with the credit limitbuffer.
 21. A GIO interface according to claim 20, wherein the thresholdassociated with the credit limit buffer is a number of credits denotedby the credit limit buffer.
 22. A GIO interface according to claim 20,wherein the flow control mechanism resumes transmission along thevirtual channel upon receipt of an update message denoting that theremote GIO interface is ready to receive additional transmissions.
 23. AGIO interface according to claim 22, wherein the update message includesan indication of credit availability of the receive buffer, wherein theflow control mechanism updates the credit consumed buffer with theindication of credit availability of the update message.